AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'm really glad you liked it. Here's the next chapter. It's been written at eleven at night over the past few days, so there may be a few spelling or grammar mistakes that I haven't noticed.

Disclaimer: If I owned Spirited Away then I wouldn't have to worry about exams, so no I don't own it.

LAST TIME

Footsteps could be heard making their way towards her and she froze, looking like a child who'd been caught playing tea parties outside in the mud, dressed in her mother's best dress. A familiar voice could be heard complaining rather loudly. "Why exactly did you wake me up?"

Two people rounded the corner, not noticing Chihiro or the girls slightly behind her, still at the food stand. "I told you Rin, I sensed humans here, we need to get them out before they eat the food," said the boy who'd been haunting Chihiro's dreams for five years now. It was Haku.

Chihiro froze, her body refusing to cooperate. The world was spinning uncontrollably and she was having trouble staying upright. He was here. He was actually standing in front of her. Her breath caught in her throat and she made an effort to indicate her presence to the two. Rin hadn't changed. Same pink uniform, same long hair, same expression. Haku on the other hand...

He looked like he was her age and his hair had grown so that it was just past his shoulders. To say he'd grown up to become very handsome would be the understatement of the century.

"You're just hoping that it's your darling Sen come back to y-" Rin teased him, but stopped suddenly as she caught sight of Chihiro. "Sen?" she whispered questioningly, as though unable to believe that this was real.

Haku turned to see what Rin was staring at and froze. Time seemed to stop as the three just stared at each other. Then both Rin and Haku lunged themselves at Chihiro intent on hugging her to death, and they would have done, if it weren't for the fact that they forced Chihiro to put weight onto her injured foot and she let out a cry of pain.

The two immediately pulled away from her and Chihiro leaned against the wall, taking the weight off her foot. Rin bent down to check on Chihro's injured limb as Haku gently hugged the girl around the shoulders, his eyes worried.

"What happened Chihiro, why did you come here?" he asked. The girl in question flinched as he said the last part and Rin hit his leg painfully, her eyes glaring up at him. "I mean," he quickly tried to rectify his mistake, he really hadn't meant it to come out like that, he'd been wanting to see Chihiro for ages. "I'm really happy to see you and all, but how come you came here injured?"

"It's nothing," Chihiro told them quietly as she pushed herself away from the wall and Rin stood up. "I just tripped. It's probably just a sprain."

Rin snorted at that. "Sprain! It's broken girl. You'll need to..." But what Chihiro needed neither Chihiro or Haku found out, as that was when Tia, Mei and Sakura appeared on the scene, each nibbling on what looked like a chicken leg (though Chihiro seriously doubted it was). The girls stared at Haku in the way a starving man stares at a piece of meat and Haku uncomfortably shifted slightly so he was hiding behind Chihiro.

"Move out of the way Ogino," Tia told the girl loudly and pushed her away, sending her into Rin, who luckily caught her. Mei and Sakura giggled, fiddling with their hair as Tia put on what she 

thought was a seductive smile. "Hey handsome," she latched herself onto Haku's arm. "Why don't you leave Ogino with that other girl and show us around." She batted her fake eyelashes at him.

Rin had made her way behind Haku and was supporting Chihiro who looked scared. "If Sen tripped then I'm president of your fanclub," she muttered to him and smirked when she felt him shudder at that thought. "You deal with these three while I take Chihiro to Kamajii before the sun sets. Then meet us there."

Rin walked off with Chihiro leaving Haku, much to his disgust, with the three bullies. He had the dark haired on who pushed Chihiro on his right arm and a bleached blonde on his left. The red head was trying to get as close to him as she could considering her two friends had taken his arms hostage.

"I'm Mei," the blonde told him. "The dark haired one is Tia, and the other is Sakura. What's your name?"

"None of your business," he told her stiffly but she seemed unfazed.

"Well 'None of your business'" the one named Sakura said in an attempt to be funny. "What are you doing around here?"

"I work here," was Haku's short reply. He started walking away from the stands of food, though it was difficult with two girls attached to him. Still if he could lead them towards the pigpen then it would be easier for him when the sun went down. These girls had hurt his Chihiro, he wasn't about to help them get away now. They could join the rest of the humans greedy enough to eat what wasn't theirs.

"You ate the food," he accused.

"Well," Tia smiled at him. "You see Ogino spilt water on me - she's such a klutz – and we were chasing her and found ourselves here. Don't worry, my father will pay for any cost, who should he make the check out to?" They had come to a stop outside the pigpen and Haku noticed with grim satisfaction that the sun was setting.

"Oh don't worry, we have a system here for those who don't pay. You see you're in the Spirit world and you just ate their food. Those who do eventually become their food." As he finished that sentence the sun set. The trio gasped as they looked at their hands. They were changing! Arms were becoming shorter and pinker. Their noses lengthened, turning upwards into snouts, pink ears sprung up as their hair receded back into their heads. Soon three pigs stood in the place of the girls.

Pleased with the change Haku chased them into an empty pen and locked them in. If he was less dignified and not an extremely powerful water spirit he might have walked away whistling, but he didn't. Despite Rin's influence on him since Chihiro left, he still had his pride to look after.

The workers at the bathhouse looked at him oddly as he made his way down to the boiler room and one worker even stopped to ask what was wrong. "Nothing," Haku told him, "I'm just in a good mood today."

He entered the boiler room carefully so as not to bump his head and started to greet Kamajii, who kept his eyes firmly on the boiler for some reason. "Hello Kamajii are..." He was cut off by a loud screech and spun round. There was Chihiro and Rin sitting on the wooden floor, with Rin trying to force Chihiro's top over her head, while Chihiro tried to keep it down.

Haku was extremely grateful that the two hadn't noticed him or he'd have been hit by Rin. He turned towards Kamajii, now knowing why the boiler man was staring at the boiler. "What's going on?" Haku whispered.

"Well," Kamajii took out a roasted newt from a cupboard and chewed on its tail thoughtfully. "Rin came in here with Sen and I had a look at Sen's ankle. It's definitely broken. I gave her something for the pain but I can't fix it myself. With her ankle sorted I went to give her a hug but she flinched as I patted her on the back so now Rin is trying to wrestle her out of her top so we can see what the matter is." Finishing his newt he turned gravely to Haku, keeping his eyes firmly on the boy and not the two girls behind him. "I hope the girls who did this didn't get away. Sen kept trying to tell me she tripped but Rin told me what she thought had really happened."

"There are no girls, but Yubaba has three new pigs," Haku told him with satisfaction in his voice.

"Alright you can turn round now Kamajii. Oh Haku, when did you come in?" Rin asked as she just noticed Haku. The two men turned to see a flaming red Chihiro holding her shirt to her chest.

"That's pretty nasty," Kamajii told the girl calmly as he examined the large bruise covering Chihiro's upper back that Rin had uncovered. "Though I have some ointment that should help clear it up."

He handed it to Rin who looked just like Haku felt. Her eyes would turn red if they got any more ferocious and she looked more like a dragon than he did at the moment. "Sen," her voice was extremely calm, but Haku and Kamajii shifted away from her slightly, survival instincts kicking in. "You can either tell us what happened or you can tell us you 'tripped' and I'll force it out of you."

Chihiro wished the ground would swallow her up. She was half dressed in a room with three people, two of which were male, and she was being forced to tell what she hadn't told anyone about. "I was pushed into some lockers at school," she told them quietly, not looking them in the eye.

"And does that happen often?" Rin asked as she indicated that the men should turn round while Chihiro put her top back on. Chihiro's silence answered that question. "Then why didn't you tell anyone!" Rin shouted.

"Because Rin, Sakura and Tia's fathers practically own the school and Mei's dad is a lawyer. If I told my parents then they'd have complained and we'd be in court before you could click your fingers for daring to blame their darling little angels!"

"Well what about your friends?" Haku asked.

Chihiro shrugged uncomfortably. "People generally avoid me. Apparently there is something weird about me. Anyway nothing too bad happened until we got this new teacher. He was quite young and good fun, and one of his assignments was to write the first hater of a story and I wrote about you guys." Chihiro blushed as she admitted to the last part. All three of the spirits in the room looked incredibly chuffed. They looked so flattered that Chihiro decided to admit to something else. "I've actually continued to write the next chapters in the story and he's been reading it. You're his second favourite character Rin."

Rin looked extremely pleased with herself. She smirked at the other two and straightened her clothes, but then paused. "Wait who's his favourite? It's not this idiot is it?" She jerked her thumb at Haku who scowled at her.

"Err... It's actually Yubaba," Chihiro admitted, enjoying the looks on the others faces. Their mouths hung open and Rin's eyes were threatening to pop out of her head. "He said there was just something about her character that made you like her despite her being slightly evil," she giggled. Chihiro decided that this was what she'd been missing. The feeling of belonging.

"Like!" Haku couldn't believe his ears. "Have you written the part where she tries to cook your parents yet?"

"No, I've only got to the bit where I'm trying to force you to take the medicine," Chihiro grinned as he shuddered at the memory.

EXCERPT FROM STORY

The dragon thrashed around as Sen held his mouth shut, forcing the creature to swallow the medicine. Shelves burst open as Haku hit his tail against them, some of their contents flying out. The little balls of soot had scurried back into their holes for safety and Kamajii had stepped a safe distance back.

Sen refused to let go of Haku's snout, despite his growls and attempts to throw her off. Suddenly a black ball of goo was spat from the dragon's mouth and he went limp.

END OF EXCERPT

"Speaking of Yubaba," Kamajii spoke, getting over his shock. "You'll have to make another contract with her Sen."

"No!" Haku almost shouted. "Remember what happened last time."

Rin sighed and patted him on the back. "She needs to Haku, she's already almost disappeared once - I just got her to Kamajii in time. Yubaba's contract will prevent that from happening."

"She'll also get Yubaba's protection, which she'll need, being human and all." Haku opened his mouth to object again but Kamajii continued. "You can't protect her properly until your contract ends and you gain your full powers."

"And," Chihiro added, "I need to work out how to get the girls back, seeing as I'm probably right in thinking that they are pigs right now."

"Why do you want them back?" Rin grumbled. If it were up to her those pigs would be bacon already. How dare anyone hurt her little sister!

"I may not like them, but I don't want them eaten!" Chihiro exclaimed, horrified at the suggestion.

Haku sighed. "All right you win. We're off to see Yubaba."

OK, like I said last time, probably won't updte again until after exams. Especially seeing as my mum has just caught me writing this at night. Oops.